Free to Choose

Nobel laureate and economist Milton Friedman was a significant influence on the monetarist and free-market move to the right that began in the 1980s. Friedman was a great communicator – able to convince economists, politicians and general readers of the sense of his theories. Decades after its publication and republication, this treatise – written with his wife, economist Rose Friedman – still serves as an accessible handbook for those on the political right. It is ardent, but never heartless; radical, but never blindly ideological. The Friedmans’ monetarist interpretation of the Great Depression proves especially interesting in light of recent history. Would Friedman have approved of quantitative easing? His criticism of the Fed in the 1980s indicates that he would have favored easing in principle, but the question of degree remains: Yes, in favor of easing, but how much? Some of his issues, like inflation, may not apply at the moment, but many of Friedman’s arguments still smolder. While always politically neutral, getAbstract recommends this foundational read – the seminal text of subsequent right-leaning thinkers and their books.